Mansour Ali Haseeb

Mansour Ali Haseeb was born on 1 January 1910[2][upper-alpha 1] in Al Gitaina, Sudan, to Sheikh Ali Haseeb, the Judge of Al Gitana, and Fatma Mohamed.[4] His family is originally from Berber, Sudan and is known for their scholar.[5][6]

Graduates of Kitchener School of Medicine. Haseeb sitting first from left.

He attended Atbara School (or between Berber, Atbara and Port Sudan[5]) before moving to Khartoum to attendGordon Memorial College and pursue medical education at Kitchener School of Medicine (now the Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum) and Khartoum Civil Hospital, and graduated with the Diploma of Kitchener School of Medicine (DKSM) in 1937 (or 1934[5][6]).[7][4][2][8][9] He then focused on bacteriology and parasitology, and then went to the United Kingdom and obtained a Diploma in Bacteriology in 1943 (or 1946[5]).[7][4][2][8]

Haseeb did his medical training at Khartoum, Dongola, Haifa, Singa and Geneina Hospitals,[2][5] before being appointed Director of the Stack Medical Research Laboratories (1952–1962).[10][11][12] He left Stack, in 1963, succeeded by Mohamed Hamad Satti, to become a professor of Microbiology and Parasitology,[5][13] and the first Sudanese Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Khartoum until 1969.[14][15] He was an examiner of the Royal Society of Health in Khartoum,[16] and, in 1973, he was appointed Chairman of the Sudan Medical Research Council.[5]

Professor Mansour Ali Haseeb, Dean Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum (sitting in the middle) with the Graduates in 1965.

Bacteriology and parasitology were to be Haseeb's major focus.[16] He made valuable contributions through his services in the vaccine production and implementation programs, most notably in combating smallpox,[17] rabies[18] and epidemic meningitis,[19][20][21] He wrote several papers on diseases common to Sudan, like parasitic infections and contagious.[7][22][23]

In 1954, Haseeb accompanied Dr Telford H. Work and Dr Richard Moreland Taylor in an expedition to research yellow fever on Baggara tribespeople, Nuba villages, and the Dinka people.[24][25][26] The expedition was documented in a film, Reconnaissance for Yellow Fever in the Nuba Mountains, Southern Sudan.[27] Hasseb contributed to 40 scientific papers, published in Nature,[28] the Lancet,[29][20] the British Medical Journal,[30][31] and Journal of Hygiene.[18] Hasseb was Editor-in-Chief of the Sudan Medical Journal from 1948 to 1958.[8]

Haseeb dedicated his book A Monograph on Biomedical Research in Sudan (1970) to the National Council of Research to benefit young researchers.[32][33] He is considered The Godfather Of Sudan's Laboratory Medicine.[1][34][35] In May 1973, Harry Hoogstraal stated, “Professor Mansour Haseeb has been more intimately associated than any other living person with adding to Sudanese biomedical knowledge and sharing [the] vast experience with younger generations of physicians and scientists.”[35]

Queen Elizabeth II visited Omdurman in February 1965. Mansour Haseeb is to the right of the Queen.

Haseeb was the Mayor of Omdurman and was invited by Willy Brandt (then Mayor of West Berlin) to visit West Berlin in 1963. He represented Omdurman in welcoming Queen Elizabeth II when she visited in February 1965.[5]

Haseeb married Fatma El Bereir in 1944, and they had five children.[36] He enjoyed playing tennis,[36] and translating from English to Arabic, e.g., Al Hakeem Arabic: الحكيم.[37]

Haseeb died suddenly on 29 September 1973, aged 63, shortly after receiving Shousha Prize from the World Health Organization.[8][7] His obituary ceremony reflected the feelings of the medical community and included a eulogy by Professor Abdullah El Tayib, then the President of the University of Khartoum.[38]